My Neighbors Rock!

Tuesday Slice of Life Challenge ...

I am excited explore my newest passion, writing,

with slicers from Two Writing Teachers.

This week our family took a mini-vacation to visit Mystic, CT.  We had three fabulously fun filled days. Our first day we spent exploring the sands and waters at Ocean Park Beach. The following two days we ventured to the Mystic Aquarium and Mystic Seaport. 

Getting there was not so simple. I drive a 2004 Subaru Outback. It's getting up there in years and mileage, so before taking the drive I made sure I had the oil changed and checked. At 8:30AM Sunday morning, the car was packed, the kids and neighbor piled in, a quick stop for an ice coffee and we were on our way.  A mile down the road I glanced at my dashboard and an orange light illuminated. I looked again and read Check Engine. Crap! How could this be happening? I wondered. I drove along hoping it would turn off. Knowing better than to ignore the signal I spotted an oil change service, pulled in and asked for help. As I explained my situation smoke started seeping thought the sides of the front hood, NOT a good sign. After inspecting under the hood and below the engine, the gentleman's face appeared at my window, not bearing good news. Our vacation would end before it even started. There was an oil leak in the engine. The car could be driven to a garage, but the leak needed to taken care of immediately or the engine would be shot. 

Surprisingly, we all took this news in stride, I mean what else could we do? During the quick ride back home, we brainstormed what we could do to create a "vacation at home". As we pulled into the driveway my neighbor was exiting his house to pick up his wife and newly born daughter from the hospital. Ethan, who was with us, jumped out and yelled across the lawn, "Daddy I missed you so much, I blew up the engine!" Smiling, his dad asked what happened. After explaining, without hesitation, he quickly offered his car. I declined, feeling uneasy accepting his offer. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He jumped in the car, drove it over to my driveway and showed me how to manage the controls. Within 10 minutes we were packed and once again on our way to Mystic. We were only 1 hour behind schedule (thanks to the boys who figured out this important piece of information). I was so humbled and thankful for having such kind, helpful neighbors. I know I would do the same for them, but I find it hard to be on the receiving end. The fact that our vacation actually did happen, made us all enjoy it all that much more, and we were sure to live in the moment throughout the whole trip! (a conversation started by a 7 & 10 yr. old, and an other post) Thank you, neighbors, for lending us your car and for making our trip possible!

Now, it's trying to figure out what to do with the car. Fix it or ditch it?